NLP

Common questions

What is NLP?

How is NLP useful?

Isn’t NLP all about therapy?

If I use NLP tools on others, aren’t I manipulating them?

1. What is NLP?

NLP has been described as the study of excellence. It sets out to answer the question ‘How do excellent
performers actually do what they do, and how can we then teach this way of doing things to others so they
get the same results?’

So NLP, or Neuro-Linguistic Programming, is the science of how the brain codes learning and experience. This
coding affects all communication and behaviour, and thus the results you get. It affects how you learn and
how you experience the world around you. It is a key to reaching goals and achieving excellence.

From this study of how the mind works have come a large number of tools and techniques that can help people
perform better, and this is what is taught as NLP today.

2. How is NLP useful?

NLP is about results. If you want to change the nature of the results you are getting in your life, NLP has
tools to help. Most of these are based around how you use your mind to do what you do. If you start using
your mind differently, you will start doing things differently, which will lead to different results.

NLP is the most well-defined and reliable approach to ‘running your own mind’ for your greater
satisfaction and ease, and gives far more rapid results than most other methods.

How we use our minds is much more flexible than you might imagine. Your mind is even more versatile than, for
example, your hand, which you can use in so many ways. NLP tools and techniques can increase the skill with
which you can use your mind so you can get more of what you want in life.

On the personal side, NLP will enable you to enjoy far greater control and freedom over your own state of
mind, responses, and interactions with others. You’ll find it much easier to clarify your dreams for
the future and identify barriers that may be holding you back. With NLP, you can change the unwanted habits
and behaviours that are standing in your way; you will understand your partner’s and children’s
needs and communication styles more fully; you can enhance rapport and communication with others, and you
will learn to recognise how others are using language to influence you. Above all, you’ll find it
easier to achieve your personal and professional goals, because you’ll gain greater access to your
internal resources.

Since NLP is about results, the place to start is with what you want in life.

3. Isn’t NLP all about therapy?

The first people modelled by the NLP founders were therapists and thus, in the early days of NLP, it was
attractive to those in the therapeutic professions. Since then it has broadened its appeal to all areas of
human endeavour, from sports to business and to relationships in general.

4. If I use NLP tools on others, aren’t I manipulating them?

The short answer is ‘yes’. Actually, if you think about it, whenever you communicate with
someone, you seek to convince, persuade or simply introduce new ideas. All of this could also be called
manipulation, even without NLP.

The key here is your intent. Do you seek to get what you want at the other person’s expense?

When considering any outcome you want, NLP encourages you to look at the consequences, both for yourself and
others, and to act ‘responsibly’.